Light generator

[John Roman]

Here's a crazy idea,
I've got all kinds of ideas lately especially as relates to the glow generated by the tubes used in our gear. I've thought to take advantage of  this to "subtly" enhance the listening/viewing experience. Sound is of course most important but I can't seem to ignore the inherent beauty of tube glow. To that end I'm inclined to build a "light generator" of sorts. Something subtle that would mimic the music to enhance the experience when the lights are out, which in the wee hours is almost always how I listen. I don't want dancing lights but maybe a series of led's whose intensity can be varied with the flow of the music. Similar to the way some "music player's"  mimic the flow of music through a program written to follow the changing notes. What I'm looking for is a website that can help me decipher the nuts and bolts of such a set up. I realize this is not an original idea but one I'd like to be able to "play with" so to speak. Try several iterations until I find something I like without having to spend to much time changing variables to see different effects. Does this make ANY sense. Just a thought!
Best regards,
John

[Grainger49]

We used to sell "Light Organs" in the 70s.  The more sophisticated ones had different frequency ranges, the mids were one light color, the highs another and bass a third.

I bought a kit controller and hooked it to my Christmas tree lights, my wife hated it!  

But there should be something out there today for your purpose.

[porcupunctis]

I'm a big fan of the tube glow myself.  I've been thinking that there ought to be a way to make a great lighting device with those 6E2 "magic eye" tubes. 

The tubes themselves seem to be available for $5 or so but for some reason if you add a circuit board with a couple of cheap caps you pay $700!  eBay can be a strange place sometimes.

[Tubejack]

If you are actually looking for a sturdy, well designed "light organ" kit, I'd like to suggest looking here.

http://www.xkitz.com/catalog/light-organ-channel-p-28.html?osCsid=ac0a8c266a51d8fd8971c13369dc5ece

I have no relationship to kibitz.com, other than I have built 2 of these for use in outside holiday decorative lighting, and they work very well, good instructions, quality PCB and design, with true AC isolation for safety considerations.  You will need to implement your own enclosure, however.

[John Roman]

Now this is very much like what I'm talking about. I'll check it out.
John

[John Roman]

Hey Tubejack,
I took a look at that site. It isn't exactly what I'm looking for but some of the links they show appear to be good resources. I wasn't very clear in my original post but the idea is evolving. I appreciate your input.
John

[elcraigo]

I built a magic eye VU using parts from a Foreplay 1 power supply a while back. It was very simple, and worked pretty well.
The hardest thing was the socket for the magic eye, but that really wasn't too hard to find.
I've taken it part because I need the parts. I'm pretty sure a have the schematic of what I built.
If I can find the schematic, I'll post it.
The circuit came out of a RCA manual, and think I only had to change a resistor value to tweak it.

[elcraigo]

"As Far As Siam"

Just making sure my sinus surgery wasn't really the frontal lobotomy I thought I read during the pre-op review -- this thread get split?